Method and apparatus for playing multiple hand card game

ABSTRACT

In a card game, each player and the dealer are dealt three cards to form a two-card hand and a one-card hand, corresponding to a HIGH hand and a LOW hand. The player HIGH and LOW hands are compared with the respective dealer hands to determine a game result. In one operating mode, players can make a wager for each of the hands, and the wagers are paid or taken separately depending on the respective comparison results. Alternatively, players may make a single wager that wins if the player at least wins one and pushes one of the two hands. The game also includes provisions for proposition wagers such as a copy wager and/or a pair wager as well as an empty hand or Dragon Hand concept.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 09/845,332, filed May 1, 2001, the entire content of which is herebyincorporated by reference in this application.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

[0002] (NOT APPLICABLE)

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] The present invention relates to a casino poker game and, moreparticularly, to a card game providing multiple-hand competition withcompetition and proposition wagers.

[0004] Multiple-hand poker games are currently in play in casinos. Anexample of such a game is so-called Pai Gow poker, which may also beplayed in a card room environment. The game was originally based onChinese Dominoes or Pai Gow, and the common card version may also beknown as Asian Poker or Double Hand. Double Hand may be played as aplayer banked game with the bank moving in rotation or as a house bankedgame with a fixed banker also being the dealer. Double Hand is usuallyplayed with a Joker included in a 53-card deck, with the Joker beingused in a straight or in a flush or as an Ace.

[0005] At Double Hand, each player makes a wager, then the player anddealer each receive seven cards. Each player forms a five-card pokerhand and a two-card poker hand, with the 5-card hand being superior tothe two-card hand. In the two-card hand, only Pairs and High cards areof value, whereas in the 5-card hand, all poker hands are possible. Theplayer hands are compared to the dealer hands. A player winning bothhands is paid 1 to 1 on the wager. A player winning one hand and losingone hand pushes the wager, and a player losing both hands loses thewager. The house advantage is generated by two means. Firstly, acommission is paid on player winnings; secondly, any copy hand is deemedas won by the house.

[0006] There are a number of problems with Double Hand operation. Forexample, collection of commission is time-consuming and may result inerrors. Moreover, setting the dealer hand the house way is complex anderror prone for a novice dealer. Hand setting is also complex andintimidating for novice players. There are certain rituals regardingselecting the first player to be dealt to and dealing to absent playerpositions that slow down the game. Additionally, there is a very highproportion of push decisions, and due to the initially dealt 7-cardhands, the game is restricted to six players.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0007] It would thus be desirable to provide a simplified multiple-handpoker game that improves upon existing games and is desirable to bothplayers and casinos.

[0008] In a triple hand poker game, after making one or more wagers, theplayers and dealer each receive a hand of five cards and create threehands being a two-card HIGH hand, a two-card MID hand, and a one-cardLOW hand. In one wagering embodiment, each player places one wager. Ifthe player wins two or three of the hands, then the wager wins. If theplayer loses two or three of the hands, then the wager is lost. Inanother wagering embodiment, the player places three equal wagers beingone on each of the respective hands.

[0009] In each wagering embodiment, the high frequency of push hands inthe previous Double Hand game is eliminated. Moreover, there is nocommission paid on winnings as the house advantage is within the copy.The copy occurs more frequently in the Double Hand game in the two-cardhand than the 5-card hand. In the triple hand game according to theinvention, there are two possible two-card copy hands and one much morepossible one-card copy hand. Copy rules may be varied to createdifferent house advantages.

[0010] Additionally, there are at least two possible proposition wageroptions. A COPY wager is a wager that at least one copy hand will resultbetween the player and the dealer. Either the payoff increases as thenumber of copy hands increases, providing different payoffs, or there isa composite payoff. Additionally, a PAIR wager is a wager that theplayer hand will include at least one pair with a payoff increasing asthe total poker hand rank increases, or there is a composite payoff.

[0011] In still another feature of the invention, a hand not beingplayed by a player is designated as a Dragon Hand, and a player with ahand may also wager on the Dragon Hand against the dealer hand.Alternatively, the dealer may have as many as three hands that theplayer can wager against. These additional options are more viable atTriple Hand according to the present invention where hand setting ismore fixed than at the previous Double Hand game. Moreover, knowledge ofother cards is less relevant at Triple Hand according to the presentinvention.

[0012] In a modified version according to the present invention, threecards are dealt to each player, who then form a two-card HIGH hand and aone-card LOW hand. The manner of forming the two hands is fixed and easyto understand, thereby effecting a fast-paced and easily understandablegame.

[0013] In an exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method of playinga card game includes the steps of (a) dealing a plurality of cards to aplayer and a dealer, which cards may be dealt from a plurality of decks;(b) the player and the dealer each forming two hands with the pluralityof cards corresponding to a HIGH hand and a LOW hand, wherein for thedealer, step (b) is practiced according to predetermined hand-formingrules such that with a hand of no pair, the HIGH hand contains at leasta high card and a low card, and the LOW hand is an odd card; and (c)determining a game result by comparing the player HIGH and LOW handswith the respective dealer hands. Preferably, the HIGH hand must bebetter than the LOW hand. Moreover, only pairs and high cards may haverank value, or alternatively, a two-card straight flush, a two-cardstraight, a two-card flush, pairs and high cards all have rank value.

[0014] The method may further comprise, prior to step (a), the step ofreceiving a competition wager from the player on the game result. Inthis context, the wager receiving step may comprise receiving thecompetition wager from the player that both of the player HIGH and LOWhands will beat the dealer's respective hands according to thecomparison in step (c). Additionally, after step (c), the method mayinclude the step of paying a payout of 1 to 1 if the player LOW handbeats the dealer's LOW hand and the player HIGH hand is at least a copyof the dealer's HIGH hand according to the comparison in step (c). Thewager receiving step may comprise receiving a HIGH hand wager and a LOWhand wager, and the method may further comprise, after step (c), thestep of paying a payout for each player hand that beats the dealer'srespective hands according to the comparison in step (c). Preferably,the payout is 1 to 1. Additionally, the HIGH hand wager and the LOW handwager may be required to be equal amounts.

[0015] The method may further include, prior to step (a), the step ofreceiving a proposition wager for a peripheral event during the cardgame. In this context, the peripheral event comprises at least oneoccurrence of a copy hand between the player and the dealer. A variablepayout may then be paid based on a number of copy hands between theplayer and the dealer. The peripheral event preferably comprises anoccurrence of a pair in the player's plurality of cards.

[0016] The method may still further comprise, prior to step (a), thestep of receiving a side wager on at least one dragon hand andsubstantially concurrently with step (a), the steps of dealing aplurality of cards and correspondingly forming each of the at least onedragon hand into two hands with the plurality of cards corresponding toa HIGH hand and a LOW hand; determining a dragon hand game result bycomparing the at least one dragon hand HIGH and LOW hands with eitherthe respective dealer hands or the respective player hands; andresolving the side wager according to the dragon hand game result.

[0017] Step (b) may be practiced according to predetermined hand rulesfor the player matching those for the dealer. Additionally, step (b) maybe practiced by prohibiting the dealer from splitting a pair.

[0018] In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, a method ofplaying a card game includes the steps of (a) enabling a player to placeat least one wager on a game result; (b) dealing three playing cardseach to the player and a dealer; (c) the player and the dealer eachforming two hands with the three cards corresponding to a two-card HIGHhand and a one-card LOW hand, at least the dealer being constrainedaccording to predetermined hand-forming rules such that with a hand ofno pair, the HIGH hand contains a high card and a low card and the LOWhand is an odd card; (d) determining the game result by comparing theplayer HIGH and LOW hands with the respective dealer hands; and (e)resolving the at least one wager according to the comparison in step(d).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] These and other aspects and advantages of the present inventionwill be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings,in which:

[0020]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a table arrangement of a Triple Hand gameof the invention;

[0021]FIG. 2 shows one section of a preferably seven section/sevenplayer table arrangement of a Double Hand game of the present invention;and

[0022]FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating the structure effectinggame play according to the apparatus of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] In the following detailed description, a method and apparatusaccording to the present invention will be described in conjunction withits application to a casino environment, thus incorporating wagers,payouts, etc. Those of ordinary skill in the art will readily comprehendalternative applications of the present invention outside a casinoenvironment, and the invention is not meant to be limited to thedescribed application. For example, the game may be embodied in a videogame that is played for entertainment purposes against a computer or thelike. Alternatively, players may play the game without wagers in ahead-to-head format with one player acting as a dealer, with the playerssimply keeping track of wins and losses.

[0024] With reference to FIG. 1, Triple Hand poker may be played on aBlackjack style or Poker style table with a dealer also acting as abanker in the house banked version. Typically, a standard 52-card deckof playing cards is used. The playing surface or table layout 10includes a playing area 12 for each player, each with three primarywager areas for HIGH 14, MID 16 and LOW 18. The playing area 12 alsoincludes two secondary wager areas for a COPY wager 20 and a PAIR wager22. Three card hand areas are provided for each player for a HIGH hand24, MID hand 26, and LOW hand 28. A dealer area 30 similarly containsthree card hand areas for a HIGH hand 32, MID hand 34 and LOW hand 36.Rules and payoffs are displayed at 38.

[0025] In a preferred operating mode, to play the game, each playerplaces three equal compulsory wagers at wager areas 14, 16 and 18. Eachplayer may also place optional wagers at either or both secondary wagerareas 20, 22. Each player and the dealer receive five cards in rotation.In this context, by dealing only five cards to each player and thedealer, up to seven players may play the game at one time. Each playerand the dealer then create three hands with the five cards being twohands of two cards each and one hand of one card. The players' two-cardHIGH hands are placed at hand area 24, the two-card MID hands are placedat hand area 26, and the one-card LOW hands are placed at hand area 28.After all players have acted, the dealer cards are exposed and set intothree similar hands of two cards, two cards and one card and placedrespectively at card hand areas 32, 34 and 36. In the operatingembodiment, the HIGH hand must be better than the MID hand, and the MIDhand must be better than the LOW hand for all players and the dealer.

[0026] The exact method of dealer hand set depends on the version inoperation, which can be set according to casino-specific rules. Forexample, in one playing embodiment, only pairs and high cards have rankvalue. In this embodiment, a preferred standard house way of settinghands is provided according to predetermined handforming rules asfollows:

[0027] (1) with a hand of two pair, the HIGH hand is a high pair, theMID hand is a low pair, and the LOW hand is an odd card;

[0028] (2) with a hand of one pair, the HIGH hand is a pair, the MIDhand contains a high card and a low card, and the LOW hand is an oddcard; and

[0029] (3) with a hand of no pair, the HIGH hand is a highest card and alowest card, the MID hand is a second highest card and a second lowestcard, and the LOW hand is a third highest card. In an alternative “nopair” forming rule, (3) the HIGH hand is a highest card and a secondlowest card, the MID hand is a second highest card and a lowest card,and the LOW hand is a third highest card. This provides a simple fixedhouse way capable of being implemented by any dealer. Additionally, theplayer perception is that the house is restricted in playing strategy.

[0030] In another playing embodiment, a two-card straight flush, atwo-card straight and a two-card flush also have rank value. With theseadditional hands, the manner of setting the dealer hands can be variedsignificantly according to house rules. In either playing mode, a rulemay be established that pairs in the dealer hands are never split.

[0031] The dealer then evaluates each player hand in rotation. Therespective dealer and player HIGH hands 24, 32 are compared, the MIDhands 26, 34 are compared, and the LOW hands 28, 36 are compared. Eachwager at wager areas 14, 16 and 18 independently either wins a fixedpayout (such as 1 to 1) or loses based on the specific comparison. Thecomparison is made based on Poker combinations and rules inasmuch assuch rules are applicable with hands of two cards, two cards and onecard, respectively. The payout may be altered either in the player'sfavor or the casino's favor, and the invention is not meant to belimited to the described example. In an alternative playing mode, thethree primary wager areas 14, 16 and 18 are replaced with a single wagerarea, wherein if the player wins two or three of the hands, then thewager wins a payout of, for example, 1 to 1. If the player loses two orthree of the hands, then the wager is lost.

[0032] In the event of an exact same hand, for example, a hand having anequal poker rank, this specific hand is regarded as a copy, and houserules apply accordingly. Preferably, the house wins a copy hand wager.The rules for resolving copy hands can be altered, however, to modifythe casino house advantage. For example, although the house may win onecopy, the player may win two- or three-copy hands. Odds above 1 to 1could apply in this instance. Another example is that the house wins acopy on an exact nominated hand (e.g., LOW) but the player wins a copyon either of the other exact nominated hands (in this case, HIGH andMID).

[0033] If a player places one or more secondary proposition wagers,these wagers are paid appropriately during the dealer's evaluation ofeach player's hands. A COPY proposition wager at secondary wager area 20wins an appropriate payoff upon the occurrence of a copy hand betweenthe player and the dealer. The payoff may be increased as the number ofcopy hands increases, providing different payoffs, or there may be acomposite payoff. Similar rules apply with respect to the PAIRproposition wager at wager area 22. The PAIR proposition wager wins apayoff upon the occurrence of a pair in one of the two two-card playerhands. The payoff may increase as the total poker rank increases, or thewager may be awarded a composite payoff. Dealer hand pairs etc. may alsobe incorporated into the PAIR proposition wager.

[0034] In yet another operating mode, there are additional competitionwagers that may be placed by the players. A hand not being played by aplayer is designated as an empty hand or Dragon Hand, and a player mayalso wager on the Dragon Hand against the dealer hand. With fewer cardsused, there is the possibility of a minimum of two Dragon Hands.Alternatively, the dealer may have as many as three hands that theplayers can wager against. Thus, a first competition wager option isthat all players may bet against the dealer hand on any hand that doesnot have a designated player. A second competition wager option is thatthe player hand is bet against any hand that does not have a designatedplayer, with these hands deemed to be dealer hands for this purpose.

[0035] In still another operating mode, the game can be played as atwo-hand game, where each player and the dealer receive three cards inrotation. Each player and the dealer then create two hands with thethree cards being a HIGH hand of two cards and a LOW hand of one card.Similar to the Triple Hand version discussed above, the HIGH hand mustbe better than the LOW hand for all players and the dealer.

[0036] The method of dealer hand set is also similar to the Triple Handversion discussed above. In particular, the dealer is prohibited fromsplitting a PAIR. If the dealer's hand does not include a PAIR, thedivision of cards is the same as the operating mode described above witha hand of one PAIR, where the high hand contains a high card and a lowcard, and the LOW hand is an odd card.

[0037] The players may or may not also be required to set their handsthe house way. With respect to wagers, in a preferred embodiment, a pushon the one-card LOW hand is won by the house, whereas a push on thetwo-card HIGH hand is won by the player. Of course, variations in gameplay will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0038] As would also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art,the invention can be embodied in a wide variety and forms of media suchas, but not limited to, single player slot video machines, multi-playerslot video machines, electronic games and devices, lottery terminals,scratch-card formats, software, as well as in-flight, home and Internetentertainment. In addition, the invention can be readily implemented asa computer program product (e.g., floppy disk, compact disk, etc.)comprising a computer readable medium having control logic recordedtherein to implement the features of the invention as described inrelation to the other preferred embodiments. Control logic can be loadedinto the memory of a computer and executed by a central processing unit(CPU) to perform the operations described herein.

[0039] In this context, referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram isillustrated showing the components of an apparatus configured forplaying the game according to the invention. The apparatus includes adisplay 40, a player interface 42, and circuitry 44 for effecting gameplay and including structure for receiving wagers, dealing hands andresolving wagers according to the game rules. That is, a processingcircuit 44 is programmed to effect game play according to the rules ofthe game, enabling players to selectively form HIGH, MID and LOW hands,and HIGH and LOW hands in the alternative operating mode, andautomatically forming dealer hands according to hand-forming rules. Thesystem resolves competition wagers based on a comparison of the playerHIGH, MID and LOW hands, or HIGH and LOW hands, with the respectivedealer hands, and resolves proposition wagers according to game rules.

[0040] The game according to the present invention enables a number ofadvantages not previously recognized in existing games. The incidence ofpushes, which occurs often in conventional Double Hand poker, has beeneliminated. The calculation and collection of commission has beeneliminated, thereby also eliminating the associated errors andcollection problems. The house way may be set to eliminate any variationand subsequent potential dealer error. An alternative house way allowingvariation from standard set in certain situations offers only minimalopportunity for strategy variation and subsequent potential dealererror. The simplicity of hand setting also enables ease of player anddealer acceptance.

[0041] The wager embodiment of multiple wagers is attractive to players.This creates more wagers on the table and a higher payoff frequency,although one of the payoff situations is an overall player loss. Theproposition wagers of COPY and PAIR both have sufficient frequency toappear to be accessible and allow rewarding odds payoffs. The extrawager options on additional hands is beneficial where there is a lowplayer table occupancy.

[0042] While the invention has been described in connection with what ispresently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiments,it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thedisclosed embodiments, but on the contrary, is intended to cover variousmodifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit andscope of the appended claims.

1. A method of playing a card game comprising: (a) dealing a pluralityof cards to a player and a dealer; (b) the player and the dealer eachforming two hands with the plurality of cards corresponding to a HIGHhand and a LOW hand, wherein for the dealer, step (b) is practicedaccording to predetermined hand-forming rules such that with a hand ofno pair, the HIGH hand contains at least a high card and a low card, andthe LOW hand is an odd card; and (c) determining a game result bycomparing the player HIGH and LOW hands with the respective dealerhands.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the HIGH hand must bebetter than the LOW hand.
 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein onlypairs and high cards have rank value.
 4. A method according to claim 1,wherein a two-card straight flush, a two-card straight, a two-cardflush, pairs and high cards have rank value.
 5. A method according toclaim 1, further comprising, prior to step (a), the step of receiving acompetition wager from the player on the game result.
 6. A methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the wager receiving step comprisesreceiving the competition wager from the player that both of the playerHIGH and LOW hands will beat the dealer's respective hands according tothe comparison in step (c).
 7. A method according to claim 5, furthercomprising, after step (c), the step of paying a payout of 1 to 1 if theplayer LOW hand beats the dealer's LOW hand and the player HIGH hand isat least a copy of the dealer's HIGH hand according to the comparison instep (c).
 8. A method according to claim 5, wherein the wager receivingstep comprises receiving a HIGH hand wager and a LOW hand wager, andfurther comprising, after step (c), the step of paying a payout for eachplayer hand that beats the dealer's respective hands according to thecomparison in step (c).
 9. A method according to claim 8, wherein thepayout is 1 to
 1. 10. A method according to claim 8, wherein the HIGHhand wager and the LOW hand wager are equal amounts.
 11. A methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising, prior to step (a), the step ofreceiving a proposition wager for a peripheral event during the cardgame.
 12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the peripheral eventcomprises at least one occurrence of a copy hand between the player andthe dealer.
 13. A method according to claim 12, further comprisingpaying a variable payout based on a number of copy hands between theplayer and the dealer.
 14. A method according to claim 11, wherein theperipheral event comprises an occurrence of a pair in the player'splurality of cards.
 15. A method according to claim 1, furthercomprising, prior to step (a), the step of receiving a side wager on atleast one dragon hand and substantially concurrently with step (a), thesteps of: dealing a plurality of cards and correspondingly forming eachof the at least one dragon hand into two hands with the plurality ofcards corresponding to a HIGH hand and a LOW hand; determining a dragonhand game result by comparing the at least one dragon hand HIGH and LOWhands with either the respective dealer hands or the respective playerhands; and resolving the side wager according to the dragon hand gameresult.
 16. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) is practicedaccording to predetermined hand rules for the player matching those forthe dealer.
 17. A method according to claim 1, wherein step (b) ispracticed by prohibiting the dealer from splitting a pair.
 18. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein step (a) is practiced by dealing frommultiple decks.
 19. An apparatus for playing a card game comprising:means for dealing a plurality of cards to a player and a dealer; meansfor the player and the dealer each forming two hands with the pluralityof cards corresponding to a HIGH hand and a LOW hand, wherein the dealerhand is formed according to predetermined hand-forming rules such thatwith a hand of no pair, the HIGH hand contains at least a high card anda low card, and the LOW hand is an odd card; and means for determining agame result by comparing the player HIGH and LOW hands with therespective dealer hands.
 20. A method of playing a card game comprising:(a) enabling a player to place at least one wager on a game result; (b)dealing three playing cards each to the player and a dealer; (c) theplayer and the dealer each forming two hands with the three cardscorresponding to a two-card HIGH hand and a one-card LOW hand, at leastthe dealer being constrained according to predetermined hand-formingrules such that with a hand of no pair, the HIGH hand contains a highcard and a low card and the LOW hand is an odd card; (d) determining thegame result by comparing the player HIGH and LOW hands with therespective dealer hands; and (e) resolving the at least one wageraccording to the comparison in step (d).